Oil Treads Water as U.S. Stockpiles Jump, OPEC Mulls Early Meet

OPEC officials are in crisis mode, planning to advance their March meeting by a month. But that still didn’t help oil prices much on Wednesday as a huge jump in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles suggested an oversupplied market.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled down 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $53.33. WTI rebounded by 0.6% just on Tuesday, after a near-four-month low of $52.16 at the start of the week.

Brent, the London-traded global benchmark for crude oil, settled up 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $59.81. Brent gained 0.3% in the previous session, after tumbling to $57.74 on Monday, its lowest level since Oct. 8.

At Wednesday’s settlement, WTI was down almost 13% for January, its biggest slide since May. Brent showed a loss of almost 10%, also heading for its worst performance since May. Oil losses this month have been heightened by the coronavirus, which has killed more than 130 people and infected another 6,000 in China, the world’s biggest buyer of crude.

The Energy Information Administration reported earlier on Wednesday that U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 3.5 million barrels last week, compared with analysts expectations for a build of just about 480,000 barrels. The surge came as refinery runs dropped to just 87% of capacity for the week ended Jan. 24, versus the previous rate of just 90% for the week to Jan. 17.

Source : Investing.com

RELATED NEWS

Oil fell after touching its highest since March at more than $40 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by doubts that an early meeting of OPEC and its allies to extend existing output cuts will take place....

Oil prices edged down on Monday as traders took profits, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) considering meeting as soon as this week to discuss whether to extend record ...

Oil prices edged lower on Friday, set to post their first weekly fall in five weeks, after U.S. inventory data showed lacklustre fuel demand in the world’s largest oil consumer while worsening U.S.-Ch...

Oil prices fell in early trade on Thursday after U.S. crude, gasoline and heating oil inventories all rose more than expected, dousing hopes of a smooth recovery in demand from coronavirus lockdowns.
...